Will We Lose the Last Active Inland Drift Sands of Western Europe? The Origin and Development of the Inland Drift-sand Ecotype in the Netherlands

A unique complex of multiphased Holocene drift sands and paleosols, with at least two lacustrine phases, was discovered during a major sanitation project in the Laarder Wasmeren area near Hilversum, the Netherlands. The complex could be studied in detail, highly facilitated by the excellent and large-scale exposure of the various deposits and soils. OSL dating was used to establish ages of the phases, where possible differentiating between time of deposition and time of burial by taking into account the potential effects of bioturbation. Pollen analysis served to reconstruct the vegetation during the various phases.A first minor phase of aeolian activity already started before approx. 5,000 BC, followed around 4,000 BC by a second phase and a rather massive third phase around 3,000 BC. After a long phase of soil formation, the latest, massive drift sand phase started around the 14th to 15th century. It clearly represents the classic drift sand phase that started in the Late Middle Ages in the Netherlands. Sand drifting followed on soil forming phases during which the vegetation became increasingly dominated by ericaceous plants and culminated in heathlands. The first three aeolian phases and associated heathlands are much older than generally assumed for heathland and drift sand to occur in the Netherlands. Moreover, podzolisation was found to have started very early, true podzols already occurring before 4,000 BC.Around 3,000 BC groundwater in the area reached a maximum altitude of about 230 cm +NAP, resulting in local open water in the area. This rise is probably linked to the development of the Dutch coastal area, where at that time peat accumulated and drainage was poor, inducing a rise of the groundwater level in ‘het Gooi’. This groundwater level fell later on, to never reach this altitude again. The Groot Wasmeer was formed by local stagnation on a slowly permeable podzol and already reached a level of 320-325 cm +NAP by 400 BC, which more or less equals its 20thcentury level.The results demonstrate that earlier concepts on the occurrence and age of aeolian phases, podzols and heathland vegetations in the Netherlands are far too schematic, and that early, pre-agricultural cultures may already have had an impact on the stability of fragile cover sand landscapes, e.g. through burning. Results are in line with those from several contemporary studies on early prehistoric cultures and their impact in river dune areas in the Central and Eastern Netherlands.

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“…Nor can the pulses be linked to adverse climatic conditions, a theory put forward in some studies (e.g. Riksen et al, 2006).…”

Section: General Discussion and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drift sands, lakes, and soils: the multiphase Holocene history of the Laarder Wasmeren area near Hilversum, the Netherlands

Sevink

Koster

Geel

et al. 2013

Netherlands Journal of Geosciences

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“…It is clear that the remaining patches of grey hair-grass vegetation are declining both in area and in quality as a result of vegetation succession. Yet it is the early successional stages that are especially important for many target species in the Veluwe region (see also Small et al, 2003;Riksen et al, 2006). The management strategy required in order to create larger areas of open vegetation entails removing invading trees from the verges and selective sod-cutting.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and spiders (Araneae) in roadside verges with grey hair-grass vegetation

Noordijk¹,

Schaffers²,

Sýkora³

2008

Eur. J. Entomol.

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Abstract. Roadside verges in densely populated areas are often a significant addition to the total semi-natural area and as such may contribute to the conservation of biodiversity. Furthermore, they can enhance the ecological cohesion of a region, especially when the existing nature reserves are small and/or highly fragmented. We investigated the occurrence of ground beetles and spiders in six highway verges with grey hair-grass vegetation in the Veluwe region, The Netherlands. Total species number in the verges was similar to the values found in nearby nature reserves with comparable vegetation, but the ground beetles tended to be more abundant in the reserves. Many stenotopic species were present in the verges, confirming the significant conservation value of this habitat. However, compared with the nature reserves, there were fewer species of stenotopic ground beetles and the stenotopic spiders were less abundant in the verges. From our knowledge of the biology and ecology of the species captured it seems likely that this is attributable to differences in "habitat quality". In the verges, species preferring bare sand are scarcer, and the weighted mean body length of ground beetles is shorter than in nature reserves. This suggests that the sward in the road verges is too dense and the suitable vegetation too patchy to sustain some of the stenotopic species. Habitat analyses support this contention: Compared with the nature reserves, the verges had proportionally less bare sand, more herb and tree cover and the vegetation patches were smaller. The strategy suggested to promote stenotopic species entails removing encroaching trees and shrubs from the verges in order to expand the nutrient-poor zone and (re-)create pioneer conditions. Subsequent management should aim at further improving the road verges as extensions of nutrient-poor habitat.

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“…The decline of traditional agricultural practices has led to decreased nutrient removal, and atmospheric nitrogen deposition remains one of the major threats to heathlands. The nitrogen deposition is causing grass and tree encroachment of the heathlands, resulting in a decline in ericoid heathland species [7][8][9]. An effective monitoring of heathland areas hence remains necessary to identify such vegetation disturbances, and allow timely management interventions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat Mapping and Quality Assessment of NATURA 2000 Heathland Using Airborne Imaging Spectroscopy

et al. 2017

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Appropriate management of (semi-)natural areas requires detailed knowledge of the ecosystems present and their status. Remote sensing can provide a systematic, synoptic view at regular time intervals, and is therefore often suggested as a powerful tool to assist with the mapping and monitoring of protected habitats and vegetation. In this study, we present a multi-step mapping framework that enables detailed NATURA 2000 (N2000) heathland habitat patch mapping and the assessment of their conservation status at patch level. The method comprises three consecutive steps: (1) a hierarchical land/vegetation type (LVT) classification using airborne AHS imaging spectroscopy and field reference data; (2) a spatial re-classification to convert the LVT map to a patch map based on life forms; and (3) identification of the N2000 habitat type and conservation status parameters for each of the patches. Based on a multivariate analysis of 1325 vegetation reference plots acquired in [2006][2007]24 LVT classes were identified that were considered relevant for the assessment of heathland conservation status. These labelled data were then used as ground reference for the supervised classification of the AHS image data to an LVT classification map, using Linear Discriminant Analysis in combination with Sequential-Floating-Forward-Search feature selection. Overall classification accuracies for the LVT mapping varied from 83% to 92% (Kappa ≈ 0.82-0.91), depending on the level of detail in the hierarchical classification. After converting the LVT map to a N2000 habitat type patch map, an overall accuracy of 89% was obtained. By combining the N2000 habitat type patch map with the LVT map, two important conservation status parameters were directly deduced per patch: tree and shrub cover, and grass cover, showing a strong similarity to an independent dataset with estimates made in the field in 2009. The results of this study indicate the potential of imaging spectroscopy for detailed heathland habitat characterization of N2000 sites in a way that matches the current field-based workflows of the user.

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Will We Lose the Last Active Inland Drift Sands of Western Europe? The Origin and Development of the Inland Drift-sand Ecotype in the Netherlands

Cited by 60 publications

References 12 publications

Drift sands, lakes, and soils: the multiphase Holocene history of the Laarder Wasmeren area near Hilversum, the Netherlands

Drift sands, lakes, and soils: the multiphase Holocene history of the Laarder Wasmeren area near Hilversum, the Netherlands

Diversity of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and spiders (Araneae) in roadside verges with grey hair-grass vegetation

Habitat Mapping and Quality Assessment of NATURA 2000 Heathland Using Airborne Imaging Spectroscopy

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